Mideast conflict spills onto the streets of Sydney with rival rallies
Rallies have been held in Sydney for both sides of the Israel-Gaza war, with the Jewish community using hundreds of ‘kidnapped’ posters to keep the focus on the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Hundreds of both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine supporters descended on Sydney CBD on Sunday attending separate rallies across the city.
A pro-Palestinian convoy of cars, utes and motorbikes has mustered for the third week in a row to drive to the city, accumulating more than 50 vehicles on the way.
Multiple highway patrol police in cars and on bikes ran checks on the vehicles and licences before the convoy set off from Bankstown Bunnings on their way to Brighton-Le-Sands.
Senior police warned participants to keep all their flags secured or inside their vehicles during their ride.
A small contingent of younger men on motorcycles wore balaclavas as they waited for the motorcade to set off, but most of the participants were families with kids decked out in keffiyehs, yelling out their windows.
Those gathered outside their cars cheered as motorists honked as they bypassed the Bunnings carpark. Some blared Arabic music from their cars.
Lebanese-Australian Zaky Mallah, organiser of ‘On the Road to Al Qudz’, said after the group’s ride to Coogee inflamed tensions with the Jewish community and authorities, the decision was made to keep the drive to Muslim and Arab migrant areas.
“We kept it local because we got advice from police and social media that it’s best not to provoke the Israeli community in the Eastern Suburbs,” he said.
“Let’s just keep it peaceful.”
He insisted the ride was a “family-friendly” event.
Palestinian-Australian mum Annabella, who declined to give her surname, was one of the first to arrive with kids Zak, 11, and Lamar, 7.Police said they would enforce the road rules along the way, and if any members of the convoy broke the speed limit or caused obstructions, they would be dealt with immediately.
The deaths of relatives in Gaza, she said, are part of the reason she’s participated in all three convoys so far - and intends to continue to do so.
“We stand up to support them, we can’t just do nothing,” she said.
“It’s going to be a peaceful protest, that’s all.
“We can’t stop until the ceasefire day.”
As the contingent set off, a police officer headed up the group on motorcycle and a highway patrol car brought up the rear.
About 45 minutes after leaving Bankstown, the convoy swung into Ramsgate carpark with horns blaring. Three bike riders were first to arrive, followed by flag-flying SUVs and utes, jostling for a spot. A brief downpour had cleared out most beachgoers, and as the sun came out again the riders mingled with locals receptive to their cause.
It comes as a large pro-Palestine crowd gathered for the third consecutive week in Hyde Park, in the city’s CBD,
Hundreds gathered, waving Palestinian flag and holding placards reading free Palestine, in what is the seventh week of protests since Hamas’ attack on an Israeli music festival earlier in October.
While the crowd was noticeably smaller than other weeks, more than 200 people marched through Sydney’s CBD chanting ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.
One of the event’s organiser’s speaking to the crowd condemned arrests of pro-palestinian protesters in Port Botany last week, saying the police had engaged in “bruatlity” and should never have arrested the protesters.
“We cannot let the fire die, we need to continue to fight until Palestine is free from the river to the sea,’ she said.
It follows Jewish Australians waving Israeli flags, who lined Martin Place, in the first pro-Israel rally to be held in Sydney CBD since Hamas’ attack on a Jewish music festival in early October.
Pro-Palestine supporters meanwhile congregated in Hyde Park with a strong police presence.
Activists and politicians at the pro-Israel rally made speeches calling for the return of the estimated 215 hostages who remain in Gaza, with posters of some of the missing on display.
Wentworth federal independent MP Allegra Spender urged the crowd to stand against anti-Semitism and racism.
“I have been appalled by what happened down at the Opera House,” she said, referring to the pro-Palestine march on October 9 marred by anti-Semitic chants and the burning of an Israeli flag.
“I have been appalled by some of the posters, the graffiti that my community has had to live through over this last period – nobody should feel afraid to be part of their community, no one should feel targeted or isolated.”
Ms Spender also called out increasing Islamophobia in her speech, saying she had been approached by a young Palestinian woman in her electorate who had been told to “go back to Lakemba”.
“While I have seen a lot of the anti-Semitism in my community, I know that the Jewish community isn’t the only one targeted,” she said.
Federal Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg used the opportunity to address the crowd urging them to not support any ceasefire with Hamas.
“We have not supported the ridiculous, juvenile calls for a ceasefire… because that organisation’s (Hamas) objective is to destroy the state of Israel and that is something we will never support,” he said.
He criticised Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi who was pictured standing next to an anti-Israel sign at a student protest in Sydney on Friday.
“Just in the last few days we see a Senator of the Commonwealth standing next to someone with a deeply anti-Semitic slogan which is proposing the same thing as Hamas, which is to remove the state of Israel from the map,” he said
“The fact that is being paraded around publicly in that way shows we have a massive problem in this country.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Mideast conflict spills onto the streets of Sydney with rival rallies
Why new Dragons custodian has flown Collaroy coop
Dragons recruit Clint Gutherson and partner Jesse Arena have exited Sydney’s Northern Beaches, leasing out their Collaroy Plateau home to relocate to Wollongong in Dragons heartland.
‘Unsettling’: Dutton demands probe into Sydney terror plot handling
Anthony Albanese is facing calls for a review into why he was left clueless for more than a week as state and federal police investigated a foiled terror plot in Sydney.